A leaked Pentagon document has exposed that a British spy plane flying over Ukraine narrowly avoided being shot down by a Russian fighter jet. The incident took place on September 29, when the surveillance plane was flying off the Crimean coast and almost fell victim to a missile fired from a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet, as stated in the document.
The Washington Post discovered an allusion to "a near-shoot down of UK RJ" within the document during their investigation. In response, the Department of Defense has referred this leak to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for further examination.
The origin of this leak remains uncertain; however, some analysts have hypothesized that certain aspects may have been altered in Russia's favor. Fox News' Jennifer Griffin and Adam Sabes provided additional information for this report.
According to these leaked documents from last year's events in September, it appears that a British surveillance plane nearly met its demise at the hands of Russian forces. Officials classified what occurred as technical malfunction but also acknowledged potential consequences had Russia struck against NATO member forces directly.
In light of these revelations found within leaked documents regarding US assessments about war efforts taking place in Ukraine along with intelligence collected through spying activities amongst allies such as Israel and South Korea—the latter nation reacted indignantly upon discovering evidence suggesting involvement between Israeli spy agency leaders planning anti-government protests last month—both departments responsible continue conducting thorough reviews while maintaining vigilance toward any potential security breaches or misinformation campaigns moving forward